Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ cups vegetable oil  (I found my batter to be a little thick, so you might want to add a little more than this)
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups peeled, pitted, and chopped peaches

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease the bottoms and sides of 16 muffin cups, or line with paper liners.(Tip: If you do use these for Mother’s Day, you could get some cute muffin liners saying “I love you, Mom” or something that she enjoys!)

​

• In a large bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. You can set it aside for now. In a smaller bowl, mix the oil, eggs and sugar. I would suggest starting out with the eggs and beating those up a little bit so that they are more liquid-y (is that a word?!?). Stir the oil mixture into the flour mixture just until moist. If you have an electric mixer, you can use the paddle attachment. Fold in the peaches. Make sure they are bite-size, or you will be eating peaches with muffin, not muffin with peaches! Spoon into the prepared cups.

​

• Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

I hope you have a lot of fun making these muffins. I enjoyed making these creations in the kitchen, and I hope my mom likes them when I give them to her for Mother’s Day!

You could serve these with a lot of things, but I think I am going to make her an omelet with all of the things that she loves in one on it. You could also make a little paper that says, “I would be ‘muffin’ without you!” and put the muffin in place of the word ‘muffin’.  Try this link for a printable card!

These turned out so good; I hope yours taste good, too, and that your mom likes them too! I hope you have a beautiful day and a great week!

Happy Baking,

                                                                                      Payton

Welcome to another installment of “Payton’s Pastries”.  She added so much spring freshness to our home with her tart creation.  Enjoy!

~Robyn

I was very excited for the month of March because I automatically knew what I was going to do: a fruit rainbow tart. A rainbow is just so iconic for St. Patrick’s Day and tarts are really fun to make, so I knew it was perfect for this month’s blog. The mascarpone filling was not as smooth as I had hoped, but this recipe was still super good. This website is my go-to website for any recipe that I might use. It usually has good reviews and has helpful comments at the bottom from other people that have used it.

Supplies

There are a few things that you might need to make this dessert or that will make your life a lot easier when making it. One thing would be a tart pan that has a removable bottom. If you are planning on displaying your tart and might not want the stainless steel sides of the pan, this is for you. It is super easy to take off and will make your tart look so much more delicious. Another thing that you might find helpful is a lemon juicer. I honestly didn’t know I would use it as often as I do in baking, but lemon juice is something that you will most likely need to make anything tart or with a lemon taste.

I got this recipe from delish, an amazing website that I mentioned earlier. Here it is!

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• 10 tbsp. butter, melted
• ½ tsp. almond extract

For the filling

• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1 (8-oz.) container mascarpone cheese
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract  (Instead of almond extract, I used vanilla because I like the flavor better, but you could use either one)

Directions:

• Make crust: preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Add melted butter and extract and stir until dough forms. Press mixture into a 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing dough all the way up the sides and until dough is smooth.

• Prick all over with a fork and bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely.
• Make filling: In a medium bowl using a hand mixer beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form. In a large bowl, beat mascarpone and cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar, lemon juice, and extract and beat until no lumps remain. Fold in whipped cream.

• Spread filling over cooled crust and arrange fresh fruit on top.
• In a small microwave-safe bowl, heat together preserves and 2 teaspoons water until warmed, 30 seconds. Brush over tart and refrigerate until well chilled, 2 hour.

The fruits that I used were the following:

• Red: strawberry
• Orange: orange
• Yellow: pineapple
• Green: kiwi
• Blue: blueberry
• Purple: grapes

Of course, you can make alterations according to what fruits you enjoy, these are just suggestions. One thing that I put on my rainbow was clouds. I used my extra mascarpone filling and put little dollops on top using a spatula and spread it around to make clouds. And that’s how to make your St. Patrick’s Day rainbow fruit tart! Happy baking!

Blessings,

Payton

Welcome to something new to the blog for 2021!  My 12-almost-13-year-old is joining our Robyn’s French Nest team as our official baker!  While I love how experimental cooking can be, I do not enjoy the precision and carefulness of baking.  Payton, on the other hand, absolutely loves it!  So, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy January’s edition of  “Payton’s Pastries”!  She put this together all on her own, including links that she thought you would enjoy! (Can you tell I’m super proud of her?!?!)  We are glad you’re here!  ~ Robyn

One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is working in the kitchen. Whether it’s cooking dinner for my family or baking a batch of cookies for a party, I love making it! One of the things that I especially enjoy in the kitchen is baking. I love it because I can share something that I created with the people I love. I can share the joy that baking brings me with those around me.

One thing that made my time in the kitchen so much easier was a cake decorating kit that I got for Christmas. It includes some must-have items for baking and decorating a beautiful cake. The first thing that came in this set was a turntable that you set the cake on to decorate it. It is especially useful to accomplish a smooth finish for your cake. Another thing included in this kit was a set of offset spatulas. I found that they were great for smoothing out icing and evenly distributing the frosting around your cake to ensure an even amount on each serving.

This recipe is fun to make and so simple to follow. It is called a naked cake because the icing is so thin in some areas that you can actually see the cake underneath. Everybody’s version of a naked cake isn’t exactly the same, so if you would like to have no icing covering your cake or lots of it, that is up to you! I love this recipe especially because of how the icing looks like more of a glaze than a thick layer of buttercream. The amount of buttercream on the cake is right in the middle of a completely frosted cake and one with no icing.

I got this recipe from Cake Decorating for Beginners by Rose Atwater. It was very helpful because it explained many techniques that helped me bake this cake. She includes a recipe for vanilla cake and an American buttercream, which I used for this recipe. She also includes a recipe for chocolate cake and a few other options for frostings. These recipes taste amazing and they are super easy to make.

Ingredients:

• Cake release spray
• 1 1\4 cups whole milk
• 1\2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 1\2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp.
• 2 3\4 cups sugar
• 1 1\2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1\2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare three 8-inch cake pans by coating the bottoms and sides with cake release spray.
• In a small bowl, mix together the milk and heavy cream. In a medium bowl, sift together the all-purpose and cake flours and baking powder. Set aside.
• (Tip: if you don’t have a sifter or strainer, you can mix and fluff your dry ingredients with a whisk to get the same aerated effect as sifting.)
• In a large bowl, cream the butter using an electric mixer (If you have a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment) on medium speed until it’s soft and light, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and the salt and mix until the mixture is light in color and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl often. Add the vanilla and mix until just combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 20 seconds after each egg, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Turn the mixer speed to low. Then add one-third of the flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Add half of the milk mixture and mix until just combined. Then add another third of the flour mixture. Repeat with the remaining milk and flour mixture. Be careful not to overmix!
• Divide the batter between the prepared pans ( Approximately 3 cups of batter per pan) and spread it out evenly. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick or a cake tester inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.
• Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out into cooling racks to cool completely.

​

Vanilla American Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 1\2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1\2 teaspoons butter vanilla emulsion (optional)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk or water, divided
• 1\4 teaspoons salt
• 2 pounds (approximately 8 cups) powdered sugar

Instructions:

• In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed (if you have a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment), beat together butter, shortening, and extracts until smooth and creamy.
• Add 2 tablespoons of the milk or water, the salt, and half the powdered sugar and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• On low speed, gradually add the remaining powdered sugar. Add more milk or water as needed to achieve the desired consistency. If using within 2 hours, the frosting can be left at room temperature. You’ll just need to keep the frosting covered with a damp cloth to prevent it from crusting. If not using in 2 hours, store the frosting in the refrigerator in an airtight container. When ready to use, bring the frosting to room temperature and rewhip it on low speed to soften before using.

How to Make Naked Cake

• Place your filled and chilled cake on a turntable (don’t forget the cake boards!).
• Cover the top with frosting, then push it over the edge to cover the side with a thin layer. Add more frosting as needed to cover the cake.

• Run a bench scraper around the outside of the cake, removing most of the excess frosting but leaving a thin layer you can see through in places.
• Use the spatula to scrape from the top edge toward the center and smooth away the lip of frosting. Rotate the cake until the top edge is sharp and clean.

• Glaze the fruit of your choice with warmed jelly or jam of that fruit mixed with water.
• (Tip: use a pastry brush or something similar to “paint” your fruit with the jelly/jam.)
• Arrange the fruit on top and/or around the bottom of the cake.

​

​I hope you enjoy baking this dessert as much as I did and that your taste-tasters enjoy it too! Happy baking!

Blessings,

Payton